Taking back the border

OPINION:

Donald Trump may have shocked the world when he was elected president of the United States, but Latino voters proved to be an even bigger surprise. Election Day exit polling showed that Mr. Trump gained 2 percent more Latino voters than Mitt Romney did in 2012, winning a total 29 percent of 13 million Latino voters.

Despite the absence of any form of organized immigration debate during Mr. Romney’s election cycle, Democrats and Republicans alike believed “Mitt Romney would be president today if he hadn’t said, ’self deport.’ ” Today, we can add this to a number of things proven wrong on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016.

With a Trump presidency approaching, I look forward to continue proving the establishment wrong and fighting for We the People, beginning with building an “impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall.” As I have stated before, politicians were never afraid of building a fence but instead, afraid that if we succeed in closing the border, the next step would be effective, internal enforcement.

For years, I have fought tooth and nail for a border wall, even building my own design on the House floor. I worked to block border legislation allowing a “virtual” wall that would have never stopped the flow of illegal narcotics, guns, terrorists and cheap, illegal labor from entering our country. Under a Trump administration, my long fight for a physical wall will be achieved.

In 2014, Senate Democratic leadership labeled me as the man behind opposition to amnesty, ultimately blocking the open borders and amnesty agenda in the House — a title I accept. Leveraging Congress’ control over the power of the purse, I have continuously fought to defund executive amnesty in each spending bill. I also drafted multiple defunds of sanctuary cities that have passed the House.

When Mr. Obama began dismantling immigration enforcement with the memos issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton, I proposed the very first defund on the House floor, and when Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals was implemented, I wrote the first defund that passed. Leading up to Crane v. Napolitano, I was the first to organize a legal challenge to the president’s claim of authority to create executive amnesty.

This year, I was honored to chair the Executive Overreach Task Force that held a hearing on the Obama administration’s unconstitutional and illegal actions on immigration, including the release of 85,000 criminal aliens during the last three years. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the 20,000 offenders released just last year had a total of 64,197 convictions, yet they were neither punished nor deported.

During the next four years, Mr. Trump will fight for every victim of those released offenders, including Iowa’s own Sarah Root, a 21-year-old girl who had just graduated from college with a 4.0 and a degree in criminal investigation. She was killed by a 19-year-old illegal immigrant who drunkenly slammed into the back of Sarah’s vehicle while drag racing. This illegal alien had previously encountered law enforcement but was released without punishment. What’s worse, he was freed once again after killing Sarah and for less than it cost her parents to bury her. In this case, as in thousands of others, our justice system failed. It failed Sarah, and it fails thousands of Americans every day.

President Obama has not only opened our borders to illegal immigrants, but he has also welcomed thousands of unknown and unaccounted-for Syrian refugees despite risking our national security. He blatantly ignored warnings from federal agencies, including FBI Director James Comey, who testified before Congress, saying there is no way to thoroughly vet these refugees. Furthermore, these concerns are not limited to those in the U.S.

During the course of my time in Congress, I have visited more than 60 countries, meeting with officials along the way. Illegal immigrants and now an influx of Syrian refugees have created problems across the board, bringing increased crime and terror into the countries they invade. It is clear that we have reached a crossroads in our nation and the time for debate is over. Our national security has been put at risk and ultimately depends on our ability to solve illegal immigration and defend and restore the rule of law.

In 2012, Democrats definitively argued, “Republicans will never win another national election unless we first provide a path to citizenship for the undocumented.” Wrong. Donald Trump has set an unprecedented standard to fight for every American in securing our borders. I look forward to playing my part in helping him achieve our common goal.

• Steve King is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa.